University of Minnesota junior Tori Dixon (Burnsville, Minn.) has been named the Big Ten Conference's Defensive Player of the Week after stellar performances on the road against No. 3 Penn State and No. 15 Ohio State. The award marks Dixon's second of the year and the Gophers' eighth weekly honor this season.

Dixon, a 6-foot 3-inch middle blocker, led the Gophers both offensively and defensively this past weekend against a pair of ranked opponents. On Friday against the Nittany Lions, Dixon hit a team-best .364 clip with nine kills on 22 attempts and just one error. Defensively, she established a career-high with 11 total blocks in the four-set loss. Largely due to Dixon, the Golden Gophers held its highest blocking mark of the season with 16, while the Lions finished with nine. In the match, she held a team-best 17.0 points.

Against Ohio State, Dixon hit a match-best .542 with 14 kills and one error in 24 attempts. She again led the Gophers with seven total blocks to help Minnesota to a 13-11 block advantage. On the weekend, Dixon hit .457, recorded 23 kills (2.56 kills per set), 18 blocks (2.00 per set), one assist, one ace and one dig.

The Golden Gophers are on the road for the second-straight weekend when they travel to Michigan State and Michigan, Nov. 9-10. Friday's match will be played at 5:30 p.m. CT against the Spartans, followed by a 6 p.m. CT tilt against the Wolverines.